Pirates of the Caribbean, The Story of Maxine
by Witchy Pirate
Summary: This is the childhood story of a girl that I made up, she is Norrington's daughter and Jack Sparrow's wife later on. I have written about two stories with her in them with Akhet Masters and Irish Parselmouth! Coming along great girls!
1. Young Life

A young girl, about the age of five, was sailing from England to Port Royal, Jamaica to deliver the Governor and his daughter. With red hair, hazel eyes fancy dresses that were rarely worn, and a fierce, stubborn attitude, this girl was known as Maxine Anne Norrington.  
Being the daughter of Lieutenant James Ardal Norrington, and with no mother, she was forced to move with her father. He had been given the order to protect Governor Weatherby Swan and his daughter, Elizabeth Swann on their journey to Port Royal.  
Over the years, Maxine had made it clear that her full name did not suit her likings, it was called far too many times. Nor did she like wearing dresses. She much preferred to be called Max and to wear a common boys clothing, much more comfortable.  
The Norrington▓s mid-wife maid, Rozia, tried frantically to keep the girl in the cream colored dress she had been barely able to get on.  
⌠I don▓t want it!■ Max screamed, her young British accent was placed in a high pitched voice. The girl tossed her body around trying to get out of the strong grasps of the woman holding her. Rozia had become accustom to her behavior.  
⌠But your father put so much effort into buying you this pretty dress┘■ she lied finishing with the fastening of the back. She pinned the girl▓s hair up the best she could with her fit.  
⌠It▓s not pretty┘I don▓t like it┘take it off!■ Max yelled. She jumped from the seat and stood in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection, she made a look of disgust. ⌠I▓m a pirate┘not a lady!■ Max mumbled quietly and ruffled the skirt. It was hard for her to believe that James, her father, had spent too much time to pick out the dress.  
Lately he had been so busy with pirates and such that it seemed there wasn▓t much time left for her. Countless time, Max had watched him sail away without her. Now, if it wasn▓t pirates, it was the new Governor. It was his fault they were moving┘again. If pirates got his attention┘than a pirate she would be! As if to answer her thoughts, Rozia spoke.  
⌠The Lieutenant would have a fit if he heard you talking like that┘being a pirate and all.■ In her thoughts Max replied, ▒What else is new?▓ but before she was able to speak, she was interrupted. ⌠He is having dinner with the Governor this evening.■ Rozia told her. ⌠Again!?■ she turned around quickly. ⌠But he promised!■ Max told her, hurt.  
⌠Yes, again,■ Rozia replied softly. ⌠But he remembered his promise┘you, and Elizabeth, are welcome to join them.■ Max only half listened, she didn▓t want to be with the Governor, nor with his daughter. The only thing the two girls had in common was that they both thought pirates interesting.  
When Rozia finished tidying her up after she had half-heartedly given up the fight, she walked slowly out the door. On the deck, voices echoed across the ship and a strange glow turned the fog orange.  
Max walked towards the other side of the ship and looked over the railing. The smell of smoked came to her as she saw the source, a fire, out on the water. Pieces of a ship floated ablaze beside their ship. A small boat left the Dauntless and rowed towards the wreckage, no doubt looking for any survivors.  
More voices came through the mixture of smoke and fog beside her. Max walked towards the voices and found the men that were talking. She moved over and stood beside her father. A man she knew as Joshamee Gibbs spoke, ⌠Everyone▓s thinking it, I▓m just saying it┘pirates!■ Gibbs took a drink out of the canteen he always had with him.  
Half excited, Max looked up at her father for confirmation. James Norrington just put his hand on her shoulder as if to calm her non-existent fears, and pulled her closer to him so that her shoulder was pressed against his though. Max smiled looking back to the men.  
⌠Now┘there▓s no proof of that┘■ Swann▓s voice replied shakily. ⌠It was probably just an accident.■ Max had the feeling he only said so either because he was in denial of the evidence, or because herself and Elizabeth were present. The small boat returned to the ship with the same amount of familiar sailor. ⌠Has no one been found then?■ Max asked looking up to her father. ⌠A young boy was found earlier┘■ James replied leading her across the deck towards where Elizabeth stood not facing them. ⌠Has he said anything?■ Norrington▓s voice sounded loud as it cut through the still air.  
Elizabeth jumped and faced them quickly, her hands folded neatly behind her back. ⌠His name is William Turner┘■ she answered quickly, ⌠That▓s what I found out.■ Norrington nodded ad motioned to a few men, ⌠Take him below.■ He turned back to Max, a hand on each shoulder as he bent down and looked into the eyes that mirrored his. ⌠I want you to accompany Elizabeth in taking care of the boy, alright?■ ⌠Aye, sir!■ she told him with a quick salute. With that, Norrington smiled and kissed her forehead. ⌠Go on then.■ he stood up straight and tapped her back as she ran passed him. ⌠I▓ll see you at dinner.■ ⌠Oh, and girls┘■ Max turned back around to face him as Elizabeth looked up again. ⌠You both look very nice this afternoon.■ he smiled giving them a small bow. Elizabeth smiled back and curtsied sweetly in reply. Max on the other hand stuck out her tongue but returned the smile before he turned away. This made him and a few of the crew members chuckle as she herself turned away from them.  
⌠You▓ve got a wild one on your hands, Lieutenant.■ one said, the others nodded.  
Norrington looked back to her, she was talking to Elizabeth. ⌠She certainly is a lot like her mother.■ Both in looks and personality. Max didn▓t look much like her father at all, except for her grayish hazel eyes that looked exactly like his. Nothing else resembled visibly that the two were even related.  
She didn▓t think they were anything alike personality wise. Max thought it would be exciting to meet a pirate. James thought it blessed to never encounter with one. A lot of things he though too dangerous for her, she would have loved to be able to do. ⌠A lot like her mother indeed.■ another sailor agreed. They didn▓t know her mother at all r not very well, but could see that she wasn▓t all that similar to her father.  
⌠I just hope that she doesn▓t end up the same┘■ Norrington continued. ⌠But she▓ll settle down┘eventually┘■ and added in his thoughts, ▒I hope┘▓ Max felt the eyes on her and looked over towards them. Before she could say or do anything, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned back to Elizabeth and followed her gaze out towards the sea.  
The two of them stared out through the fog and something appeared before them. The dark figure took the rough outline of yet another ship!  
This ship was different from the other two. It had black sails instead of white, and they were reduced to tatters. The wood was rotting away like it was no less than a hundred years old. But the curious thing, was that it wasn▓t just able to stay afloat, but also sail faster than the ship they were on, the HMS Dauntless.  
However curious, it was the flag that was most eye catching. Unlike the other two ships, this one was not flying English colors. Instead this flag had a black background, two crossing, white swords, and a skull in the middle. The two girls looked at each other at the same time. Each one with wide eyes and excited faces, both thinking the same thing: ⌠Pirates!■ Norrington glanced back to the two of them to see exactly what they were doing. It had been a while since he had heard anything from any of them. If Elizabeth was anything like Mac, it would be trouble, double trouble.  
To his astonishment, they were just standing there looking to the sea. He himself looked over in the direction there were staring. He didn▓t see anything, the ship had vanished in the fog.  
That night, as the four of them ate, joined by the captain, of course, Max glared at Elizabeth sitting across from her. She was hiding something from all of them and Max wanted to know exactly what it was.  
Their silent fight was interrupted by a sudden question. ⌠What was it that you two were looking at earlier, on the sea?■ Before Max could come up with anything to say, Elizabeth spoke, ⌠There was a ship, in the fog. Looked like a pirate ship to me, right Max?■ she smiled.  
The three adults looked at her as well as she slowly nodded, giving Elizabeth a kick to the shin.  
⌠What? You two saw a pirate ship and didn▓t ell anyone! Max, I know you knew to tell someone. Did it not occur to the two of you that the same thing that happened to the boy▓s ship could have happened to ours as well!?■ Max looked at her father with a smile.  
⌠A ship in the fog┘made out of fog, dad.■ she lied quickly with a smile. She knew what fate awaited the pirates if they were caught, a hanging no doubt. Elizabeth looked at her the same as her father, with an apologetic look. ⌠My apologies, Max,■ her father told her softer. ⌠I assumed you meant a real ship, do you forgive me?■ he asked the two of them.  
Max felt that she had no choice but to accept the apology. He had just said he was sorry for her unknowingly knowing the truth, and she had lied to him. She smiled and nodded for an answer.  
Elizabeth nodded as well, she knew the reason Max had lied, and half of her was glad she did. But what the Lieutenant had said stuck in her mind, as it did Max▓s. Max waved her bangs from her face and looked down the table to her father. ⌠When are you planning for us to head back to England?■ James stopped eating and looked at her. ⌠We haven▓t even gotten there, Max.■ he smiled trying to soften the blow to her. He sighed, ⌠It▓s difficult to say, really.■ he began. ⌠We▓ll have to see how bad Port Royal has gotten.■ Max figured that this was his way to tell her that it would be a very long time.  
Upon arrival on the shores of Port Royal, they were able to see just how venerable it really was. As far as each of them could see, the place had no police of any kind, nor restraints. The soldiers that were stationed in the fort seemed as undisciplined as pirates, whom would come ashore to take over the place, night after night.  
Prominent on the waterfront, there was a rude gallows, and from the yardarm of these gallows, the remains of bodies hung, ▒dancing in Port Royal sunshine.▓ These pirates only suffered this fate from attacking the wrong ship at the wrong time. Beside the carcasses, hung a sign that read, ▒Pirates Ye Be Warned.▓ Max looked at her father as if to say, ▒You▓ve got to be kidding me!▓ Port Royal sure had left a remembered first impression. Already Max was sure that she wasn▓t going to enjoy her stay at this town.  
Max woke with a knock at the door of her room. She buried her face in her pillow and pulled the covers over her head. The knock came again, louder this time. ⌠Come in┘■ she mumbled into her pillow. The door opened a crack as Rozia stuck her head in the room.  
⌠Get out of bed!■ she went over to the window and pulled apart the curtain and opening one of the windows.  
Max ignored her with the covers over her head. But that only sheltered her from the morning sun for a few minutes before the covers were ripped away from her. ⌠Your fathers promotion ceremony is today┘■ Rozia told her. Max shielded her eyes from the light. She stood up and walked to the window. The breeze carried the smell and moisture of the Caribbean Sea to her window.  
Even after eight years, Max couldn▓t find mush she liked about the town, Port Royal. Apart from the view, there wasn▓t much to like. There were hardly any children around, partly because the pirate attacks, and with not many children, it didn▓t make sense to build something to play on.  
That left them running around the town, causing trouble, or playing around the docks. Civilians weren▓t allowed on the docks today, but no doubt one will try.  
Max occasionally snuck down to the blacksmith▓s shop when the owner, Mr. Brown was out. Will had gotten a job there and made some of the best swords Max had ever seen. One of her favorite swords was the small sword with gold filigreed in the handle. William had worked hard on that sword, and it was by far the best looking one in the shop, not to mention impressively styled and formed. Knowing that she had liked the sword so much, Will had recommended that one to the Governor for Captain Norrington▓s promotion today. He agreed, impressed by the sword himself.  
Max▓s wandering mind was pulled back into the room when Rozia spoke again. ⌠Come on, let▓s get you into the dress.■ Although she had grown to become thirteen, Max still didn▓t much like wearing the dresses she was given. She did, however, get used to them and didn▓t argue so much anymore about it.  
With a sigh, Max walked back across the room towards Rozia. ⌠I don▓t see the purpose of these ceremonies. They are all the same and you just stand there. Then I have to listen to all the women talk about my father, how great he is, that he is such a fine man┘■ ⌠Enough fuss, Maxine!■ Rozia told her pulling the strings on the back of her dress. She was nice enough to not pull them as tight so that she couldn▓t breathe at all, but it was still difficult.  
⌠The only reason I am going is to see his reaction to the sword when it is appointed to him.■ Max continued. ⌠I helped with is myself!■ she paused. ⌠Well, actually, I stood and watched, but I was sure to point out that I liked that one and it should be used in the ceremony.■ ⌠Is that so?■ Rozia asked back distracted by her own wandering thoughts. She concentrated on removing the tangled knots from Max▓s hair and pinning it up, thinking of almost everything. Then catching the last part of the girl▓s story, she smiled. Rozia was brought completely back to reality with a knock at the door. The maid opened the door slowly to find Gillette standing on the other side of it.  
⌠Good afternoon,■ he gave a quick bow to Max and she returned it with a small, reluctant curtsy. ⌠I am here to deliver a message,■ he continued. ⌠Once you are ready to leave, you are to go to the Governor▓s house. Your father has already gone.■ Max looked away from him as she was informed that her father had already gone. ⌠Thank you, Gillette.■ she smiled to him. He bowed again and prepared to leave the room when Max spoke again. ⌠Wait, Gillette, would you care to escort me to the Governor▓s then?■ she asked standing up.  
⌠Certainly, Miss,■ he smiled holding out his arm to her. Looping her arm with his, she gave Rozia a polite nod of a good bye before leaving then room and descending the stairs to the large room below.  
⌠If you excuse me for one moment, Miss┘I shall need a word with the guards.■ Gillette smiled before leaving her.  
Max watched his disappear around the corner of her house and into the hallway as she stood. A few men passed her and bowed their heads to her and she did the same to them. Max had grown accustom to seeing a few Navy officers in her house, but never this many of them.  
It seemed to repeat the theory, that because there was a ceremony and the town would be close to empty and most members of the Navy at the ceremony, that the promoting officers house needed to be guarded more.  
Max looked out the door, down the street for a while before she heard footsteps, followed by a man▓s voice. ⌠Sorry about that┘shall we?■ She turned to see Gillette offering his arm once more to her. She took it once again and they stepped out of the house. Instead of walking as Max had in mind, they got into a silver horse-drawn carriage.  
⌠You▓re looking beautiful this evening, Miss.■ Gillette told her as the horses began the journey down the road. The Governor▓s house wasn▓t far, but it wasn▓t near either, a fair distance lay between the two.  
Max smiled to the compliment, ⌠As are you, the uniform looks great for you.■ she looked him over again. ⌠I wouldn▓t mind at all if you just call me Max though.■ she smiled again. He looked to her strangely. ⌠Max?■ he asked with a small smile. ⌠I guess I can do that┘Max.■ After a few minutes, the carriage slowed and the trotting stopped. The door was opened by a man outside, the driver of the carriage. Max followed Gillette out of the carriage taking his hand until her feet were flat on the ground. She bowed her head to him and looked to the house in front of her. Max walked up the steps to the house and the door was opened for her. She walked inside and saw that Will was standing in the room with her, carrying a package that held the ceremony sword. She smiled and curtsied to him. ⌠Good afternoon, Max.■ Will told her bowing back. ⌠Just delivering the sword to the Governor before the ceremony┘you were right, he was very impressed by it.■ he smiled proudly standing up straighter. ⌠Thought he might be,■ she replied. Max looked around, Gillette wasn▓t around anymore, had she just missed where he was going? Why was she supposed to be at the Governor▓s? ⌠If you excuse me, Will┘I have to find what it is that I am doing here┘■ she smiled to him again, ⌠Good day, Mr. Turner.■ Elizabeth came down the stairs shortly after her father had. Max was standing in the other room listening to the two of them talk of the sword. As Will looked up and saw Elizabeth walking down the stairs, he straightened up and stared. Max rolled her eyes as he fumbled around with words, she heard Elizabeth ask. ⌠How many times have I asked you to call me Elizabeth, Will?■ The answer was more than could be counted. As her father left the two alone for a moment and walked out the door, she added. ⌠You seem to have no trouble calling Max by her name.■ she smiled.  
Will looked at her for a minute before answering with, ⌠I have spent longer times with Max. It▓s just habit┘I suppose.■ he told her hoping that she wasn▓t angry. The Governor called to her and she left the room. Max walked around the corner again and stood beside Will. ⌠Every day you are getting better at talking to her┘■ she smirked before passing him and walking out the door herself. ⌠Good day, Mr. Turner.■ As she walked down towards the street, she was once again accompanied by Gillette. It wasn▓t long before they were all at the fort for the ceremony. Before them, soldiers formed two lines and walked through the fort, most of them carried gun, but a few carried drums and played as they walked. The women were dresses their best and standing on one side of the soldiers, the men, also dressed in their best on the other side. ⌠Ten hut!■ a man yelled as the soldiers stopped in a line. ⌠Right about face!■ he shouted again and the soldiers, in one swift movement turned towards each other leaving a isle between them. ⌠Present arms!■ Their guns were held in front of then in an angle as the new Commodore walked between the two lines of men.  
As James Norrington reached the other end of the isle formed by Navy Soldiers, he turned and stood before the Governor with his hands clapped behind his back, standing straight. Swann turned and grabbed the package that the sword was still laying in and held it out in front of him to Norrington. The new Commodore grabbed the hilt of the sword and held it up, the gold in it reflected the light as he turned and flipped it about to examine and show it off.  
Although he showed no emotion of it, Max knew that her father had liked it, and she had let William know that she liked it very much. As often as she could, Max would go down to the Blacksmith▓s Shop, of course this wasn▓t very often. Max would try to go back after the ceremony to pass her father▓s complement▓s personally. ▒Finally,▓ Max thought as the ceremony ended and she was able to walk out of the beating sun and at least into the shaded area of the fort. As Max walked up the steps around the fort, she looked back to the courtyard where there, in the middle of the fort, were the gallows. It seemed rather unused and unnecessary, and rather rude to Max. Max looked around the place nodding as she, as known, received many compliments on her father▓s promotion. It was the second one in the eight years she had spent in Port Royal. Her eyes finally fell upon her father, he was standing outside on the ramparts with the Governor▓s daughter, Elizabeth. Just as he turned away, Elizabeth fell over the side of the ramparts and into the bay below. Max would have thought the sight funny, but she stepped forward quickly as her father struggled to remove his coat. Just as he was about to jump over the ramparts himself, Gillette put his arm out to stop him. She sighed with relief knowing that what lay in the bay were many sharp rocks.  
When she was satisfied that he wasn▓t going to jump over the side, Max turned and ran in the other direction out of the fort and towards the docks. Not being able to move very fast with the weight of the dress and the lack of oxygen she could take in from it, she was not as fast as she usually were and the men were right behind her. With the dress already getting caught on a few branches, she knew it unwise to take any of her shortcuts to the docks. As Max looked down the hill she saw that in the distance, on the docks, Elizabeth had already been taken out of the water by another man that had seen her fall. Max couldn▓t tell who he was but knew that he was accompanied by two navy officers. Just as she was about to step foot on the docks, Max felt a heavy hand touch her shoulder and stop her from going any farther. ⌠Stay here,■ the deep voice of her father told her as he ran ahead onto the docks. He was easy to find, one man in a blue coat surrounded by men in red coats. The other soldiers joined the four on the docks and quickly circled them wielding their swords. It only took Max a few seconds to figure out why, the man that had saved Elizabeth from drowning, was a pirate! A real pirate! The swords were put away on Elizabeth▓s orders, but then something that Max didn▓t expect to happen, did. The man grabbed Elizabeth and was able to get away from them.  
As she followed with her eyes, the pirate swung up from the docks and towards the town. But as Max ran around the trees and tried to see where he went, he was gone. The moment it took for her to move to see again, was all it took for the pirate to drop from the rope and back onto the ground.  
Max sighed, disappointed, and decided to just go on to talk to Will about the sword. She only walked a few steps before she heard her father call her name, ⌠Maxine!■ Max looked back but couldn▓t see him, smiling, she ran down the street towards Mr. J. Brown▓s Blacksmith Shop. The distant sound of her name being called could still be heard but then it was replaced by much nearer shouts, the men looking for the pirate. As she reached the shop, she heard swords▓ clashing together. ▒Will must be practicing again,▓ she thought as she pressed on the doors. It was always fun to watch Will practice with his swords, and occasionally, if they were sure that no one would come, Max was able to duel with him.  
But the door didn▓t open, so she tried the one next to it. Not one of then moved more than a few inches, they were locked. Max peered through the crack between the doors. But couldn▓t see anyone in there. ⌠Will┘■ she pushed the door again, her voice not being heard by any. Just then, someone came up behind her, she turned thinking that it was John Brown, the owner of the shop. The red coat in front of her told her otherwise, she looked up with a sweet smile. It was one of the many navy men that she did not know the name of, she only knew a few high ranking ones, or the officers positioned at the docks.  
⌠Did you know that your father is looking for you, Miss?■ he asked her.  
⌠I did know that,■ she nodded, ⌠I just wanted to send my compliments to Mr. Turner, but I cannot get into the shop.■ ⌠And did you also know that there is a pirate running around somewhere and that you could be in danger?■ he more told her than asked, ⌠And that is the reason why your father is now searching the town?■ Max thought of what he said, did he mean that he was searching the town for the pirate┘or for her? Her thoughts were interrupted as another sound of metal on metal came from the door behind her. ⌠Who is in there?■ he asked looking at the door walking past her. ⌠I don▓t know┘I just told you that I can▓t get in there!■ she turned and looked at the door as well. The man pushed on it, but being locked, it only moved in a few inches. ⌠Get to your house and stay there,■ he told her before running off and gathering a few more men to help open the door.  
Just as Max walked around the corner, she walked into someone and fell back. ⌠There you are!■ a very recognizable voice exclaimed. Max grabbed the hand that was being held out to her. ⌠I have been looking all over for you! Where have you been?■ her father asked his voice becoming a little more harsh. ⌠I just wanted to talk to Will,■ she told him. ⌠He made your sword┘I helped pick it out┘■ she told him slowly. ⌠I can▓t get into the shop┘and I think they are going to try and get inside it┘there▓s a sword fight, dad!■ Norrington looked at the side of the shop just as the soldiers began to ram the door. He quickly returned his gaze to his daughter, ⌠I want you to run home and stay there┘understand?■ Max looked at him, ⌠But┘■ she began but was interrupted.  
⌠No┘that▓s final, get yourself back up to the house and stay there this time!■ he told her giving her a small push in that direction. Max turned back and glared at him before walking up towards her house. As soon as she heard her father▓s footsteps fade, she turned back and looked around the shop. There was another door around the back! When she stepped forward to say so, she was just told with a wave of the hand to keep going in that direction. Max huffed and walked away, but as soon as she was out of sight, she turned and went around to the back of the shop. When she reached the other side and looked through the crack in the door, she only saw the pirate and Will standing┘a gun pointed at Will. She was just about to open the door to try and help when Mr. Brown hit the pirate over the head with an empty bottle and seconds later the Navy members were in circles around the three of them. James looked at the door, and Max turned away from it and ran in the direction of her house. If she was caught still out here she wouldn▓t ever be able to come out alone! Half way back to her house she looked back in time to see that the pirate was being carried away to the cells. Breathing deeply, she decided it best to walk the rest of the way up the hill. Max was sitting in her room, writing on a piece of parchment at her desk. The desk was placed in across from one of the windows so that she could just look up and see the moon reflecting on the Caribbean. Tonight, the moon was covered by a gray cloud and it gave the air a gloomy, bleak feeling. Max turned back to her writing but quickly looked up again when she heard a small thud and the answer of an explosion. She dropped the quill on the desk and ran to the window. It was late but the flashes of light down in the bay lit up the firing ship floating in the center. Torches were lit on the ramparts showing figures of people running along them to the cannons to return the fire. Cannonballs hit the ramparts shattering it in places and men fell to the ground. Max turned and ran for the door but was soon stopped by the maid, Rozia. As Max tried to run out the door, an arm caught her right around the waist so that she could get no more than a few feet down the hall. ⌠Let me go!■ she screamed kicking out trying to get loose. ⌠We can▓t just sit here while the town is blown to pieces!■ Max stopped fighting the hold and looked at her hard. ⌠My father is out there and could be in trouble┘I have to try and help them!■ The maid looked at her with sorrowful eyes for a few moments but didn▓t let her go. ⌠You must stay here like your father told you┘he▓ll be fine, Miss.■ But Max would hear none of it, she was able to get herself out of Rozia▓s arms and run down the hallway in the other direction. As she stepped out the door and looked around, explosions everywhere were going off. Her father was with the Governor last she saw of him, somewhere on the east port. That is where she would start her search, she ran off in that direction, and ducked a few splinters of wood.  
⌠Sight the muzzle flashes!■ she heard over the loud mixture of noises. She looked down the side of the fort and finally caught sight of a blue coat and ran towards him. ⌠Max!■ he yelled, his eyes bigger than usual as he looked at her. ⌠What are you doing here? You are supposed to be up in your room!■ To Max he didn▓t sound angry, but she knew he was worried and would be later. ⌠I had to see if you were alright┘I▓m sorry!■ she told him. ⌠Come back with me┘we can take the people there┘the cannons don▓t reach it!■ Max begged him meaning that the house was safer than right here. As to prove her statement, an explosion went off right beside them and everyone ducked. Max screamed and her father covered her by pulling her closer to him and ducking. As the earth stopped falling around them, he stood up again and let her go. ⌠Governor, barricade yourself in my office.■ The cannon behind them went off and made Max duck again. ⌠That▓s an order! Take her with you!■ he added pushing Max towards him. ⌠Lead him to the house┘■ he told Max.  
Max shook her head but the look that her father gave her made her step back towards the house. Governor Swann pulled on her arm and made her walk away from the ramparts and her father. James gave her a look that he meant for it to say, ▒It▓ll be alright┘I▓ll be there later.▓ Max had no choice but to go with him back to her house. As they walked, she kept looking back to the crumbling wall that she knew her father was still standing on. With every blast of the cannon, her heart skipped a beat, her breathing stopped when she saw that the cannonball had made contact with the wall. Rozia was standing by the door when they arrived and quickly ushered them inside the house. It seemed like ages that they sat there, Max having no way to get out of the house again. The door was locked and the two adults sat in the sitting room drinking tea like nothing was wrong. Max wandered why her father had wanted the Governor to barricade himself in his office and not just in the house. Curiosity won over and she slowly opened the door to his office. She had never been into this room, she had only just passed it catching a glimpse. Something shimmered on the desk and she picked it up. It was a small locket just sitting there, she remembered it faintly . Max wasn▓t sure what made her do it, but she picked up the locket and placed it in her pocket. The distant thuds slowed and the screams became lower and lower. Max couldn▓t stand it, she walked up stairs back to her room and looked out the window. The bay was black, that meant that the ship had stopped attacking them┘but was it gone? As she looked down she saw someone walking towards the building she was in. Quickly, Max ran down the stairs and into the room to join the other two, ⌠Someone is coming┘they▓re at the door.■ she told them quietly looking at the closed door. The handle moved as the person tried to get into the house, but being locked, the door didn▓t open. From the other side a man▓s voice came, ⌠It▓s me┘it▓s alright┘open the door.■ Without thinking, Max ran to the door and unlocked it. She opened the door rather quickly and saw her father on the other side. ⌠Max┘where is the Governor?■ he asked walking in the house quickly and shutting the door behind him. She was more concerned in looking over her father for any sight of injury, she couldn▓t see any but maybe a few scratches. He was unusually dirty and looked ancient, like he was hundreds of years old. James put an arm around her shoulder and looked in the direction she pointed. ⌠Governor Swann┘Elizabeth has been taken by the pirates!■ Max looked up to him quickly to see if he was in fact telling the truth. There was no mistaking it, he was indeed.  
⌠Will┘that▓s it┘the pirates!■ Max told him when he found out. ⌠They have to know where they took her!■ She looked to him, but he seemed just as down as before. ⌠I have already thought of that┘■ he told her, half heartedly. ⌠Commodore Norrington thinks that it won▓t work, seeing as they left Jack Sparrow to his cell┘■ Max looked over to the cells, it had a huge hole in the wall where it had been smashed that night during the attack, but one pirate remained there. Jack Sparrow. ⌠That doesn▓t mean he hasn▓t got an idea where they went!■ she gave him a small smile.  
⌠You could be right┘but what do we do?■ Will asked her looking around the town, it had taken a great beating but had been cleaned rather quickly. ⌠I can keep the Commodore busy and away from the cells if you want to go talk to him?■ she told the young man. ⌠But I seriously doubt that he will need much more to do┘he was planning to marry Elizabeth┘but she never had the chance to answer him.■ Max shrugged as if it didn▓t bother her too much that she had been taken.  
⌠Would you please?■ he asked meaning to keep Norrington away from the cells while he talked to the pirate. ⌠It would be much appreciated, Max.■ ⌠Of course I would!■ she told him with a nod. ⌠But you have to give me the plans on what you are going to do┘I▓ll be down by the docks later, the Interceptor is being prepared to set sail later on.■ ⌠Thank you,■ he nodded and walked off towards the cells and Max towards her father in the other direction. Max looked at the map that he was leaning over and studying. There were many marks on it where they cold have headed towards. ⌠Where you headed, Commodore?■ she asked looking under his arm at his face.  
⌠We▓re planning to take the Interceptor and search these islands first.■ he ran a hand over the map to show her the general direction they were going. ⌠By we┘you mean me as well┘don▓t you?■ she asked hopefully, still looking at him. Max didn▓t want to be left behind again as her father went away, plus┘she loved to sail on the seas.  
James Norrington looked at her, ⌠No┘I want you to stay here.■ he told her. ⌠You can watch after the Governor in my stead┘■ Max looked at him hard.  
⌠Why can▓t I go with you?■ Max remained looking at him as he walked around the table to her. ⌠I▓ve been sailing with you before┘and pirates attacked here just last night! I don▓t see what the big deal is!■ ⌠I said no, you▓re staying here with the marines to protect you!■ ⌠I don▓t need protection! I want to go with you!■ ⌠Maxine Norrington!■ he raised his voice slightly. ⌠Do as I say and stay here!■ ⌠Why do I always have to stay! No matter where it is that you are going I want to go with you! I hate staying here!■ she shouted at him. Norrington didn▓t answer her, he wasn▓t sure what to tell her to make her stay this time. Max glared at him before turning on her heel and stamping off. As he called her name to come back she ran, she ran all the way down to the docks. Max sat on a few crates that were by the docks and watched the officers pack the boxes onto the ship in front of her. The sea was calm and there was a slight breeze that was going out to the Caribbean from the bay they were in. Norrington came down from the building where he had been studying the map a while ago and looked over the ships. Max ducked out of his sight not wanting to let him see her there┘she wasn▓t in the mood to talk to him and if he saw her he would probably tell her to go back to the fort or something. A voice came from a small boat out in the bay, from where she was at, Max couldn▓t tell who it was, or what they were saying. As the boat came closer, she guessed by the coat and the muffled voice, that it was Gillette. The Commodore joined the rest of the men on the ship and Max was able to run aboard the ship before it set sail out to the Dauntless that now contained William and Jack. Max hid herself down in the cabins so that she wouldn▓t be seen. If she wasn▓t wearing this dress as she wanted, then she might have been able to hide above the deck and see what was going on. The Interceptor stopped sailing and she heard a few shouts from the deck. Max opened the door a crack and looked out at the deck. It had been abandoned by the Navy and taken up by Turner and Sparrow! As the ship began to move again and the Dauntless fell behind, Max came out of the room she was in and made her presents known.  
As William caught sight of her, he stopped what he was doing. The pirate known as Jack hadn▓t yet seen her. ⌠Jack┘■ Will spoke. ⌠This is Max.■ he nodded in her direction. Max looked at the pirate and stepped forward. ⌠I wish to sail with you. I▓m going to help you get away from here and to find Elizabeth. And if it is quite alright, I shall like to stay.■ she told him.  
The pirate looked at her for a while, not sure what to say or do. ⌠Welcome to the crew then, Miss.■ he decided to say. Max smiled pleased with herself for finally getting away from Port Royal. But still something sat at the back of her mind, what would her father think, she was now a pirate.  
As Max ran about the riggings, taking in the rare scenery that she had been able to see, Jack and Will remained below on the deck. By the looks of it, Will was talking about something that Jack didn▓t much care about.  
For a moment, Max took her eyes off the two of the men and looked to the locket she had taken. Suddenly, a thought came to her, a small box that Rozia had given her after her father had left for another journey to find pirates. She remembered now that it had something shiny in it, could it be the locket? Her father had intended her to have whatever was in the box, but she refused it and threw it to the floor before running out of the house. Max was brought back to the ship she was sitting on when she heard the creaking of the wheel being turned quickly and a soft thud sound. She looked down to see that Will was hanging onto one of the foremasts over the ocean. Max watched what was going to happen, Jack didn▓t seem all that threatening to let him drop off and drown.  
As Will was brought back over the ship, he let go of the mast and lay on his back. Jack put the sword to Will▓s chest for an instant before flipping it around and handing the sword back to him. Max gave the empty horizon one last look before she began to climb down. Was he not coming after her or was he just taking his time and plotting a course. Maybe repairing and stocking another ship for the voyage?  
Whatever the reason, Max pushed it from her mind, she was a pirate, and by the sounds of it, heading for Tortuga to pick up a buccaneer crew. How far was Tortuga? It being a pirate port, she had never gotten the chance to see it┘or much hear about it either. But the trip wasn▓t too long, there was plenty to do on a ship with a crew of only two men and a young girl.  
There was a line of men standing on the docks at Tortuga. Jack studied each man up and down the line, followed closely by Will, but Max kept at a distance on the other side of the line. As Jack questioned a few of the crew members, he was interrupted by a woman▓s voice farther down the line.  
For a moment they must have thought that it was Max who had spoken, but then Jack spotted the real speaker, Annamaria. ⌠You stole my boat!■ she shouted at Jack after she slapped him once.  
⌠Actually,■ Jack began, but was interrupted by yet another slap across the face. ⌠I only borrowed it, with ever intention of bringing it back to you.■ It was later that all the men and Annamaria were allowed to join the crew on the Interceptor. Jack studied the sky before he boarded the ship again. Max and Will looked up to the sky just as he did, but each with little sailing experience saw nothing. Jack, however, saw the storm that shortly after was known to all of the ship▓s crew and everyone else out that far at sea.  
Once back on the ship, Jack asked her, ⌠What made you want to join the crew if you were in Port Royal?■ he asked looking to her. ⌠Don▓t you have family or something there at all┘why leave it?■ ⌠I have always wanted to sail, I like it, the sea and the ship┘and being a pirate sounded very exciting to me.■ Max told him. ⌠As for family, my mother died when I was very young, I am an only child. As for my father┘he is gone as well┘■ It was later that Max learned, the pirate, Jack Sparrow hadn▓t agreed to help to get Elizabeth back, rather the ship that she was on. The Black Pearl, it was the same cursed ship that her and Elizabeth had seen on the crossing from England. Although that was after the mutiny and Jack was not aboard it at that time.  
Max also learned that the pirates that had attacked were the same ones that mutinied against Jack, and that they were immortal. She recalled the memory of that night when she was taken back by her father. As Elizabeth was locked in a room aboard the Dauntless, Max▓s presents was still not know at this point. She was aboard the Black Pearl with the rest of the crew of Jack Sparrow. It was later that Elizabeth was able to get herself away from the Dauntless and aboard the Black Pearl to unlock the cells that held the crew.  
Together, both Max and Elizabeth were able to get inside the cave where the rest of the pirates were, including Jack, Will and the man that had captured them, Barbossa. Inside the cave, they arrived just in time to see that a duel had already begun. Barbossa and Jack were running around slashing about swords, and Will was fighting with a few other pirates himself. It wasn▓t long after that the two of them joined in with the fight.  
Max saw that the pirates would not die, Jack had run his sword straight through the pirates chest and still he stood. As he quickly removed it from his own chest and drove it through Jack▓s, Max took in a deep breath in shock.  
Jack stumbled backward into the moonlight, his skin rotted away from his body and a skeleton remained. Will and Elizabeth walked up beside her and stared as well, Jack flipped around a coin in his hand. ⌠Who side is Jack on?■ Elizabeth asked the two of them. Will replied, with a shrug, ⌠At the moment┘■ Max wasn▓t able to hear the rest of it, she ran forward and blocked a blow from a pirate and went on towards the two dueling pirates. As a shot sounded off through the cave, everyone froze in their own tracks. She looked around quickly, Will was standing in front of the chest filled with Aztec Gold, Elizabeth had a look that made Max think it was her that had been shot, but she quickly found that it wasn▓t. Max looked back to the pirates on top the hill of gold, Jack had his gun out and pointed at Barbossa▓s chest. Barbossa also had his gun out, but it was pointed off in the distance, untrained now as he looked at Jack. It was later that they all saw the dark red spot appear on his shirt, and Barbossa, fell dead, the curse lifted from him and his crew. It was later that Jack had indeed offered her a spot on the crew, and she accepted that. But with one problem, as the four of them climbed into the long boat and they set sail to drop the two off on the ship, it was gone. The pirates had left, and they were due to hang in the gallows. As the long boat made its way to the Navy ship floating off shore, Max felt a strong feeling of unease. Her father was no doubt aboard that ship┘and she would soon have to be as well! Will got out first, followed by Elizabeth, but Jack and Max stayed in the small boat for a while longer arguing on who went aboard the ship first. Soon after, they were both pulled aboard the ship by the soldiers aboard it as well. Max tried her best to hide, but a pirate surrounded by officers of the British Royal Navy sticks out pretty well and she soon found herself facing her father again. She was alone, Jack was immediately taken to the brig. After she looked around and noticed this for herself, she hung her head and stood there. Norrington couldn▓t believe his eyes, was this pirate his daughter? He looked at her face and knew without a doubt that it was her. Of course he couldn▓t hang his own daughter, he would have to find a way to get her out of it. And he did, along with Will and Elizabeth, the three of them were excused of their crimes, but Jack was not┘ No matter how she tried, she was unable to get Jack off the hook, her along with everyone else knew that he would just go back to pirating straight afterward. As they arrived back in Port Royal, Max felt strangely uncomfortable there, not to mention that Jack was scheduled to hang the next day, and the town was going to be present, like it was a circus show.  
Max stood with Elizabeth, the Governor, and her father as the incredibly long list of crimes was read off and the rope placed around Jack▓s neck. She looked away from the allows and her father looked to her. She heard a voice speak, ⌠This is wrong┘■ and knew it to be Elizabeth and the attention was thankfully taken off of Max and to her. ⌠Commodore Norrington is bound by the law┘as are we all┘■ the Commodore smiled as the Governor said this, but Max glared at him and looked back to the courtyard. It was then that she saw the neon colored bird she recognized from the past time on the Black Pearl.  
Max looked over to Elizabeth and nodded towards the bird so that she would see it and the others wouldn▓t. Just then, Elizabeth looked at her own father and James, and pretended to faint again to draw their attention. It worked and Will was able to cut Jack down as the lever was pulled and the door fell from beneath him.  
After a short fight against everyone, the two of them, William and Jack, found themselves cornered again by the entire Royal Navy. Jack was able to get himself away from the pointed guns and towards the ramparts. Max figured what he was going to do and turned to run in the other direction. Running as fast as she could, she ran towards the docks, sure enough, there was a ship floating in the bay, but not one that was normally there┘it was the Pearl! With a broad smile, Max quickly took the top, heavy layer of her dress off so that she was in a sort of white slip and jumped into the ocean bay. Max quickly swam towards the ship and was pulled aboard after the captain himself and a blanket was clapped over her shoulders as well. Looking up to the ramparts, she saw her father looking down to the ship, but he did nothing else. He just let them go┘it was not like him to do so┘but all in one day, she knew his heart to be torn in so many directions now┘that she wasn▓t surprised that he did nothing. Looking around the ship again, Max felt at home, but also a painful thorn of guilt. Time would heal that┘wouldn▓t it? Years later, she found the answer. In Tortuga, inside a pub, Max saw a sight she never before would have imagined to see:  
Her father, still dressed in his Navy uniform, though it was so dirty that he blended in well with the crowd of pirates, drinking a bottle of rum. He swayed up to the table in which Gibbs was sitting and tried to get onto the Black Pearl, sort of. Still having a knack for the navy ways, and hate for pirates, he pointed his gun at Jack, and a fight broke out between the entire pub. Norrington was in the middle of it, this action stunned Max for a while and she stood there watching. What had the world done to him? He looked awful┘but then the thought that pestered her so crept back into her mind, what had she done to him? Here, he was going to get himself killed acting like this, and she was somewhat relieved when a sailor hit him over the head with a rum bottle, knocking him out. James was thrown over into a pigsty and covered in smelly mud. Max slowly walked over to him and kneeled beside him, he was still unconscious when she arrived. ⌠Oh, no┘■ she whispered to herself. Rolling him over, she studied his face, moving a muddy strand of hair from his forehead. Jack had already made his way out of the pub and into the night back to the ship. Max however, stayed a little longer to look at this┘stranger that was her father. But then, he opened her eyes. His vision was blurred and his eyes stung from the mud, and he didn▓t know who was beside him. With a smile, Max stood up over him, ⌠Best be off┘Commodore┘Norrington.■ she tipped her hat to him and began to walk away. Norrington sat up and stared after this sailor┘who was he?  
⌠How do you know my name?■ he asked, his words slurred. ⌠Who are you sailor?■ James stood up a little and tumbled back down into the mud.  
Max looked back at him and smiled again at the sight, ⌠A friend┘or your daughters┘■ she turned and walked away again, this time not stopping for his questions. If she stayed too long, or answered too many┘she could give herself away.  
Norrington wanted to ask how he knew her, thinking that she was a guy, but she had gone. Max had disappeared in the crowd of pirates, but then, he saw someone he did recognize, and was able to find his way to the Pearl.  
When Max saw that her father had indeed found his way to the ship, she was half relieved, half disappointed. She didn▓t want him to find her, not yet anyway, so she stood out of the way and watched the crew. Reluctantly, she caught Jack and was able to tell him that she wasn▓t going on this journey with him.  
Jack knew that something was up, but he also knew enough not to get into any of it. He let her stay in Tortuga, where she was able to work for a few extra coins, and was even able to steal from a few drunken men at the bar from time to time. Max, being in the bar, heard a lot of tales about Jack Sparrow, but one caught her interest. Davy Jones.  
It was said, that Davy Jones had caught up with Jack Sparrow and taken him to the locker. Max knew enough about the legends of Jack Sparrow to tell which ones were true or not┘but not seeing him for near a year, this one seemed true enough. That was why she joined the crew of another ship and began her search again for the crew she had grown to know. When she found the ship, that had been spared for some reason not learned in the rumors, she found that half the crew, and the beloved captain, were gone. The stories were true┘Jack had been taken into the locker, and the crew went on a search for him. But Max, she had a different way to approach this mess┘go directly to the source. Davy Jones, and make a deal with him. But first, she needed to reload the ship that was now under her command with the needed supplies. To her dislike, the closest city was┘Port Royal┘ Eight Years Later ⌠Get out of that bed, Miss and into this dress!■ Rozia▓s voice still reached her even as Max put the pillow over her own head. ⌠It▓s your father▓s promotion ceremony! It▓ll only take a few minutes!■ Max sat straight up in her bed and glared at the woman, ⌠Have you never been to one of his ceremony▓s! If it is true that it is only a few minutes then I age a year in a day!■ The curtain▓s of her room were opened and the bay came into view, and the bright morning sun made Max cover her face again. ⌠They▓re all the same, I▓ll go there┘stand in the hot sun for hours, receive a few comment▓s about how proud I should be of my father, and that I should follow in his footsteps and help out with the Navy┘blah blah blah, and then we stand around some more and listen to the orchestra play!■ Max groaned as Rozia walked around the room and opened the other window. ⌠Come on, you▓ve got this new dress to wear and everything.■ Rozia pulled the blankets away from the thirteen year old girl and replaced them with clean sheets. Max slowly got out of the bed and looked out the window and out to the bay. She had the best view in the house, right here, looking out to the ocean, over the ramparts of the fort. The sun set on the horizon just in front of her window.  
It was only an hour that it took for her to get into the dress┘with less of a fuss now knowing that she never won it, but it felt ages. She had her hair pinned up and curled so that only a few red curls lay on the neck of the blue dress. Max was also given a Chinese fan that folded up and tucked into the belt of her dress. ⌠Ten hut!■ a man yelled as the soldiers stopped in a line. ⌠Right about face!■ he shouted again and the soldiers, in one swift movement turned towards each other leaving a isle between them. ⌠Present arms!■ Their guns were held at an angle as the new Commodore walked between the two lines of men.  
As James Norrington reached the other end of the isle formed by Navy Soldiers, the Governor presented him with a beautiful sword made for the occasion by the same William Turner that Max and Elizabeth watched over as they made their way to Port Royal eight years ago.  
Max watched her father receive the sword and flipped it around to show it off. She knew that he would like it, and she had let William know that she liked it very much. As often as she could, Max would go down to the Blacksmith▓s Shop and look at all the swords, of course this wasn▓t very often. Max would try to go back after the ceremony to pass her father▓s complement▓s personally. Finally, Max thought as the ceremony ended and she was able to walk out of the beating sun and at least into the shaded area of the fort. As Max walked up the steps around the fort, she looked back to the courtyard where there, in the middle of the fort, were the gallows. It seemed rather unused and unnecessary, and rather rude, to Max. But worse than that, were the three skeleton▓s still hanging out in the bay with a sign, Pirates Ye Be Warned. Every time the wind picked up, the long deceased bodies would swing and the ropes they were hanging from creaked making the hairs on the back of her neck stand. Max looked around the place nodding as she, as known, received many compliments on her father▓s promotion. It was the second one in the eight years she had spent in Port Royal. Her eyes finally fell upon her father, he was standing outside on the ramparts with the Governor▓s daughter, Elizabeth. Just as he turned away, Elizabeth fell over the side of the ramparts and into the bay below. Max stepped forward quickly as her father struggled to remove his coat, but Gillette stopped him from going over as well. She sighed with relief knowing that what lay in the bay were many sharp rocks.  
When she was satisfied that he wasn▓t going to jump over the side, Max turned and ran in the other direction out of the fort and towards the docks. Not being able to move very fast with the weight of the dress and the lack of oxygen she could take in from it, the men were right behind her. In the distance, on the docks, Elizabeth had already been taken out of the water by another man that had seen her fall. Max couldn▓t tell who he was but knew that he was accompanied by two navy officers. Just as she was about to step foot on the docks, Max felt a heavy hand touch her shoulder and stop her from going any farther. ⌠Stay here,■ the deep voice of her father told her as he ran ahead onto the docks. He was easy to find, one man in a blue coat surrounded by men in red coats. The other soldiers joined the four on the docks and quickly circled them wielding their swords. It only took Max a few seconds to figure out why, the man that had saved Elizabeth from drowning, was a pirate! A real pirate! The swords were put away on Elizabeth▓s orders, but then something that Max didn▓t expect to happen, did. The man grabbed Elizabeth and was able to get away from them.  
As she followed with her eyes, the pirate swung up from the docks and towards the town. But as Max ran around the trees and tried to see where he went, he was gone. The moment it took for her to move to see again, was all it took for the pirate to drop from the rope and back onto the ground.  
Max sighed, disappointed, and decided to just go on to talk to Will about the sword. She only walked a few steps before she heard her father call her name, ⌠Maxine!■ Max looked back but couldn▓t see him, smiling, she ran down the street towards Mr. J Brown▓s Blacksmith Shop. The distant sound of her name being called could still be heard but then it was replaced by much nearer shouts, the men looking for the pirate. As she reached the shop, she heard swords▓ clashing together. Will must be practicing again, she thought as she pressed on the doors. But the door didn▓t open, so she tried the one next to it. Not one of then moved more than a few inches, they were locked. Max peered through the crack between the doors. But couldn▓t see anyone in there. ⌠Will┘■ she pushed the door again, her voice not being heard by any. Just then, someone came up behind her, she turned thinking that it was John Brown, the owner of the shop. The red coat in front of her told her otherwise, she looked up with a sweet smile. It was one of the many navy men that she did not know the name of, she only knew a few high ranking ones, or the officers positioned at the docks.  
⌠Did you know that your father is looking for you, Miss?■ he asked her.  
⌠I did know that,■ she nodded, ⌠I just wanted to send my compliments to Mr. Turner, but I cannot get into the shop.■ ⌠And did you also know that there is a pirate running around somewhere and that you could be in danger?■ he more told her than asked, ⌠And that is the reason why your father is now searching the town?■ Max thought of what he said, did he mean that he was searching the town for the pirate┘or for her? Her thoughts were interrupted as another sound of metal on metal came from the door behind her. ⌠Who is in there?■ he asked looking at the door walking past her. ⌠I don▓t know┘I just told you that I can▓t get in there!■ she turned and looked at the door as well. The man pushed on it, but being locked, it only moved in a few inches. ⌠Get to your house and stay there,■ he told her before running off and gathering a few more men to help open the door.  
Just as Max walked around the corner, she walked into someone and fell back. ⌠There you are!■ a very recognizable voice exclaimed. Max grabbed the hand that was being held out to her. ⌠I have been looking all over for you! Where have you been?■ her father asked his voice becoming a little more harsh. ⌠I just wanted to talk to Will,■ she told him. ⌠He made your sword┘I helped pick it out┘■ she told him slowly. ⌠I can▓t get into the shop┘and I think they are going to try and get inside it┘there▓s a sword fight, dad!■ Norrington looked at the side of the shop just as the soldiers began to ram the door. He quickly returned his gaze to his daughter, ⌠I want you to run home and stay there┘understand?■ Max looked at him, ⌠But┘■ she began but was interrupted.  
⌠No┘that▓s final, get yourself back up to the house and stay there this time!■ he told her giving her a small push in that direction. Max turned back and glared at him before walking up towards her house. As soon as she heard her father▓s footsteps fade, she turned back and looked around the shop. There was another door around the back! When she stepped forward to say so, she was just told with a wave of the hand to keep going in that direction. Max huffed and walked away, but as soon as she was out of sight, she turned and went around to the back of the shop. When she reached the other side and looked through the crack in the door, she only saw the pirate and Will standing┘a gun pointed at Will. She was just about to open the door to try and help when Mr. Brown hit the pirate over the head with an empty bottle and seconds later the Navy members were in circles around the three of them. James looked at the door, and Max turned away from it and ran in the direction of her house. If she was caught still out here she wouldn▓t ever be able to come out alone! Half way back to her house she looked back in time to see that the pirate was being carried away to the cells. Breathing deeply, she decided it best to walk the rest of the way up the hill. Max was sitting in her room, reading a book that she had found, one of the few on pirates and ships, when she heard a small thud and the answer of an explosion. She dropped the book and ran to the window. It was late but the flashes of light down in the bay lit up the firing ship floating in the center. Torches were lit on the ramparts showing figures of people running along them to the cannons to return the fire. Cannonballs hit the ramparts shattering it in places and men fell to the ground. Max turned and ran for the door but was soon stopped by the maid, Rozia. As Max tried to run out the door, an arm caught her right around the waist so that she could get no more than a few feet down the hall. ⌠Let me go!■ she screamed kicking out trying to get loose. ⌠We can▓t just sit here while the town is blown to pieces!■ Max stopped fighting the hold and looked at her hard. ⌠My father is out there and could be in trouble┘we have to help them!■ The maid looked at her with sorrowful eyes for a few moments but didn▓t let her go. ⌠You must stay here like your father told you┘he▓ll be fine, Miss.■ But Max would hear none of it, she was able to get herself out of Rozia▓s arms and run down the hallway in the other direction. As she stepped out the door and looked around, explosions everywhere were going off. Her father was with the Governor last she saw of him, somewhere on the east port. That is where she would start her search, she ran off in that direction, and ducked a few splinters of wood.  
⌠Sight the muzzle flashes!■ she heard over the loud mixture of noises. She looked down the side of the fort and finally caught sight of a blue coat and ran towards him. ⌠Max!■ he yelled, his eyes bigger than usual as he looked at her. ⌠What are you doing here? You are supposed to be up in your room!■ To Max he didn▓t sound angry, but she knew he was worried and would be later. ⌠I had to see if you were alright┘I▓m sorry!■ she told him. ⌠Come back with me┘we can take the people there┘the cannons don▓t reach it!■ Max begged him meaning that the house was safer than right here. As to prove her statement, an explosion went off right beside them and everyone ducked. Max screamed and her father covered her by pulling her closer to him and ducking. As the earth stopped falling around them, he stood up again and let her go. ⌠Governor, barricade yourself in my office.■ The cannon behind them went off and made Max duck again. ⌠That▓s an order! Take her with you!■ he added pushing Max towards him. ⌠Lead him to the house┘■ he told Max.  
Max shook her head but the look that her father gave her made her step back towards the house. Governor Swann pulled on her arm and made her walk away from the ramparts and her father. James gave her a look that he meant for it to say, ▒It▓ll be alright┘I▓ll be there later.▓ Max had no choice but to go with him back to her house. As they walked, she kept looking back to the crumbling wall that she knew her father was still standing on. With every blast of the cannon, her heart skipped a beat, her breathing stopped when she saw that the cannonball had made contact with the wall. Rozia was standing by the door when they arrived and quickly ushered them inside the house. It seemed like ages that they sat there, Max having no way to get out of the house again. The door was locked and the two adults sat in the sitting room drinking tea like nothing was wrong. Max wandered why her father had wanted the Governor to barricade himself in his office and not just in the house. Curiosity won over and she slowly opened the door to his office. She had never been into this room, she had only just passed it catching a glimpse. Something shimmered on the desk and she picked it up. It was a small locket just sitting there, she remembered it faintly as something that she had thrown when he had told her that he was leaving on a voyage again. Although she couldn▓t remember where she had gotten it, she kept it safe, like it was very special to her. The distant thuds slowed and the screams became lower and lower. Max couldn▓t stand it, she walked up stairs back to her room and looked out the window. The bay was black, that meant that the ship had stopped attacking them┘but was it gone? As she looked down she saw someone walking towards the building she was in. Quickly, Max ran down the stairs and into the room to join the other two, ⌠Someone is coming┘their at the door.■ she told them quietly looking at the closed door. The handle moved as the person tried to get into the house, but the door didn▓t open. From the other side a man▓s voice came, ⌠It▓s me┘it▓s alright┘open the door.■ Without thinking, Max ran to the door and unlocked it. She opened the door rather quickly and saw her father on the other side. ⌠Max┘where is the Governor?■ he asked walking in the house quickly and shutting the door behind him. James put an arm around her shoulder and looked in the direction she pointed. ⌠Governor Swann┘Elizabeth has been taken by the pirates!■ Max looked up to him quickly to see if he was in fact telling the truth. There was no mistaking it, he was indeed.  
⌠Will┘that▓s it┘the pirates!■ Max told him when he found out. ⌠They have to know where they took her!■ She looked to him, but he seemed just as down as before. ⌠I have already thought of that┘■ he told her, half heartedly. ⌠Commodore Norrington thinks that it won▓t work, seeing as they left Jack Sparrow to his cell┘■ Max looked over to the cells, it had a huge hole in the wall where it had been smashed that night during the attack, but one pirate remained there. Jack Sparrow. ⌠That doesn▓t mean he hasn▓t got an idea where they went!■ she gave him a small smile.  
⌠You could be right┘but what do we do?■ Will asked her looking around the town, it had taken a great beating but had been cleaned rather quickly. ⌠I can keep the Commodore busy and away from the cells if you want to go talk to him?■ she told the young man. ⌠But I seriously doubt that he will need much more to do┘he was planning to marry Elizabeth┘but she never had the chance to answer him.■ Max shrugged as if it didn▓t bother her too much.  
⌠Would you please?■ he asked meaning to keep Norrington away from the cells while he talked to the pirate. ⌠It would be much appreciated, Max.■ ⌠Of course I would!■ she told him with a nod. ⌠But you have to give me the plans on what you are going to do┘I▓ll be down by the docks later, the Interceptor is being prepared to set sail later on.■ ⌠Thank you,■ he nodded and walked off towards the cells and Max towards her father in the other direction. Max looked at the map that he was leaning over and studying. There were many marks on it where they cold have headed towards. ⌠Where you headed, Commodore?■ she asked looking under his arm at him.  
⌠We▓re planning to take the Interceptor and search these islands first.■ he ran a hand over the map to show her the general direction they were going. ⌠By we┘you mean me as well┘don▓t you?■ she asked hopefully, still looking at him. Max didn▓t want to be left behind again as her father went away, plus┘she loved to sail on the seas.  
James Norrington looked at her, ⌠No┘I want you to stay here.■ he told her. ⌠You can watch after the Governor in my stead┘■ Max looked at him hard.  
⌠Why can▓t I go with you?■ Max remained looking at him as he walked around the table to her. ⌠I▓ve been sailing with you before┘and pirates attacked here just last night! I don▓t see what the big deal is!■ ⌠I said no, you▓re staying here with the marines to protect you!■ ⌠I don▓t need protection! I want to go with you!■ ⌠Maxine Norrington!■ he raised his voice slightly. ⌠Do as I say and stay here!■ Max glared at him before turning on her heel and stamping off. As he called her name to come back she ran, she ran all the way down to the docks. She sat on a few crates that were by the docks and watched the officers pack the boxes onto the ship in front of her. The sea was calm and there was a slight breeze that was going out to the Caribbean from the bay they were in. Norrington came down from the building where he had been studying the map a while ago and looked over the ships. Max ducked out of his sight not wanting to let him see her there┘she wasn▓t in the mood to talk to him and if he saw her he would probably tell her to go back to the fort. A voice came from a small boat out in the bay, from where she was at, Max couldn▓t tell who it was, or what they were saying. As the boat came closer, she guessed by the coat and the muffled voice, that it was Gillette. The Commodore joined the rest of the men on the ship and Max was able to run aboard the ship before it set sail out to the Dauntless that now contained William and Jack. Max hid herself down in the cabins so that she wouldn▓t be seen. If she wasn▓t wearing this dress as she wanted, then she might have been able to hide above the deck and see what was going on. The Interceptor stopped sailing and she heard a few shouts from the deck. Max opened the door a crack and looked out at the deck. It had been abandoned by the Navy and taken up by Turner and Sparrow! As the ship began to move again and the Dauntless fell behind, Max came out of the room she was in and made her presents known.  
As William caught sight of her, he stopped what he was doing. The pirate known as Jack hadn▓t yet seen her. ⌠Jack┘■ Will spoke. ⌠This is Max.■ he nodded to her.  
Max looked at the pirate and stepped forward. ⌠I▓m going to help you get away from here and to find Elizabeth.■ she told him.  
The pirate looked at her for a while, not sure what to say or do. ⌠Welcome to the crew then, Miss.■ he decided to say. Max smiled pleased with herself for finally getting away from Port Royal. But still something sat at the back of her mind, what would her father think, she was now a pirate. 


	2. Max's Hanging

⌠Maxine Norrington,■ the officer began, ⌠Be it known that you have┘■ Before he could continue any farther, Max interrupted him.

⌠Sparrow┘■ she corrected him shaking the hair from her face, as the rope was placed around her neck by the man behind her.

⌠Maxine┘Sparrow■ the man surprisingly started again. ⌠be it known that┘■

⌠No┘Maxine Anne Norrington Sparrow┘■ she sighed. ⌠Honestly, can▓t you people ever get a name right? How do you even know if you are hanging the right person?■ Before she got an answer, the rope was pulled tighter around her neck and she looked over her shoulder glaring at the man. ⌠It was just a question┘■

⌠┘For your willful commission of crimes against the crown┘■ the man continued.

⌠Wait, I missed part of that┘mind starting over?■ Max asked innocently, but the man carried on without a pause this time. Max smirked.

⌠Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature, the most egregious of these crimes being stated here: piracy, pilfering, depravity, arson┘■

⌠That was accidental!■ Max exclaimed. ⌠Something scared the donkey in the blacksmith shop and it kicked knocking down the candle I had. So really it wasn▓t my fault┘I was just looking for Will┘■ she explained. The man just paused before continuing.

⌠Depredation, brigandage, kidnapping┘■

⌠I▓ve never kidnapped anyone┘my father, he walked willfully onto my ship┘ask him.■

⌠You▓re father is dead, and it wasn▓t him, a woman instead.■

Max thought a while, of course they didn▓t know about her father, but kidnapping┘■oh, yeah┘that girl I took from here to get him to follow me?■ Max smiled, ⌠I let her go┘■

Once again the man paused to hear what she said, ⌠Smuggling, pilfering┘■

⌠You▓ve said that already┘■ Max interrupted again. The man scanned the list over again and glared at her.

⌠So I have┘■ he sighed and continued to read the list. ⌠Looting, sailing under false colors┘■ he paused to look at Max to see if she had anything else to say.

Max smiled, ⌠Thank you┘as you have suspected, I haven▓t sailed under false colors either. Every flag that I have sailed under, has been true. As you know my father had been the Commodore for quiet some time,■ Max went on telling the story. ⌠And he would often have to get a different flag to sail to different places┘and occasionally, I was allowed to go with him, therefore I wasn▓t under false colors┘■ she nodded.

⌠Impersonating a cleric of the Church of England.■

⌠Now, I say! Never have I ever been close to doing that!■ she told him.

⌠Excuse me, striking a cleric of the Church of England,■ he corrected with a smile.

⌠Now that I can understand, but what you have to understand, is that is was no cleric, but Jack Sparrow.■ she nodded, by this point a few of the people below her have been enjoying the conversation between the two. True or not, it didn▓t matter.

⌠No really, I believe you have all heard his records before? He impersonated the cleric, not I. And I knew that it was him, so therefore I didn▓t strike any cleric at all, just a silly pirate pretending to be one.■

⌠So really, if this is all that you have, best go out looking for a few more, seems you have missed many and that your sources are a bit off┘now┘let me go┘■

⌠I can▓t do that. You have been convicted of countless other crimes against the crown and other general lawlessness┘■ ⌠Like what?■

The man looked at his paper again. ⌠Assisting in the commandeering of a ship of the Royal Navy┘■

⌠Honestly I didn▓t know Jack Sparrow was on that ship, I was merely just trying to stay aboard long enough for my father to set sail on it, me along with it.■ she shrugged.

⌠Falsification of documents┘■

⌠Nope, real papers, just not signed correctly I guess┘■ Max smiled.

⌠Fleeing from arrest and assisting in the evading of capture by other pirates as well, associating one▓s self with pirates, and drunkenness┘■

⌠You see┘those I have done, but it was for a good cause┘then I just got hooked on them, I suppose you caught me there┘but what a horrible crime. I can name many of your officers who have associated themselves with pirates before┘■ she nodded. ⌠And the drunkenness┘how do you figure┘it is not wise to drink so much that you are caught off guard.■

⌠In Tortuga, accompanied by your father and Sparrow.■

⌠Oh┘you mean when my father was brought back here by Beckett and kept in a cell? I wasn▓t drunk┘I was on the verge of unconsciousness┘hit over the head with the hilt of a sword, trying to get myself arrested. But I wouldn▓t expect many of you to believe that┘■

⌠Good, because not many will┘if any.■

⌠But it▓s the truth, ask one of my accomplices┘either would do.■

The man did his best to ignore her as he shook the paper and continued. ⌠Withholding information from a Naval officer,■

⌠He was my father and he wouldn▓t have believed me anyway┘unless you are talking about on more recent accounts┘■

⌠Once again, your father is dead┘you killed him.■

⌠What?■ Max asked really shocked this time. ⌠Why would I do such a thing, I really got along with my father, after a while┘and now it▓s hard to be separated from him.■

⌠He▓s dead, killed by your hand. Which brings us to our final major crime, murder and attempted murder.■

Max couldn▓t believe what she was hearing. ⌠Alright┘if I┘which I didn▓t, but┘if I killed my father┘who did I try to kill then?■

⌠It was witnessed that you nearly killed one of our own┘your fathers friend.■

⌠Gillette,■ Max and the officer said together. Max looked down at the trap door beneath her boots. She nearly did kill him, maybe she did deserve to hang after all. ▒No┘that▓s the hormones talking, Max,▓ she told herself.

⌠So you admit to it then?■

▒Say no, you didn▓t try to kill him, you thought that he was Jones┘▓ A voice told her. In her head, she was saying no, but what came out of her mouth was, ⌠Aye.■

⌠You admit to killing your father and attempted to kill Gillette?■

⌠No┘I didn▓t kill my father┘he▓s still alive┘■

⌠You▓re mad┘he died on the Dutchman, you were covered with his blood.■

⌠I know┘he died on the Dutchman┘and he lives on the Dutchman┘and I didn▓t kill him.■ Max replied sadly. ⌠Not really┘■ she admitted. It was her fault that he died, and then it was partly her fault that he is cursed to a life of unhappiness, surrounded by death.

The courtyard was silent for a while, it had all started out as a joke to Max at first, but now, nothing about it was funny. She was sure even at this point, not even Jack could make her smile. He was right, she did try to kill Gillette, and it was her fault that her father was now the captain of a cursed ship.

Something inside her brought her back to the courtyard and she looked up, a few tears ran down her cheeks but she stood tall. Max felt a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach for a second thought that she was going to be sick. But then, she wandered how she ever forgot about it.

⌠I have but one question┘■ she told the officer who had read her crimes. The man rolled his eyes but let her continue. ⌠I have grounds to believe that I may be a few month pregnant.■ As she said so, she felt strange, and the crowd let out a few gasps and murmurs. ⌠The only question I have is┘will you spare my life just long enough so that this innocent child can walk the earth and sail the seven seas?■

⌠Do you speak the truth?■

⌠If I didn▓t do you think that I▓d still be standing on this door beneath my feet?■

The man studied her for a while before looking towards his commanding officer. A few men stood on a raised platform across from her talking. It was then that she noticed she knew a few of them. All of them knew her father, and in the middle of them, was Gillette.

Gillette gave the man a nod as they all stopped speaking. ⌠Granted, you may live for the life of the child depends on yours.■ Max nodded in thank you, ⌠But, as the child reaches an age where it can live with another, than you shall be right back here.■

⌠I understand, and for the moment, do not argue.■ Max replied as the rope was removed from her neck and her hands cut loose.

Max sat on the side of the platform where hung the noose above her head, swinging her legs off the side as the courtyard was beginning to empty. People slowly made their way towards the gate and to the other side of the wall. As the voices grew fainter, Max heard a pair of boots walking up behind her.

⌠You should have told the truth┘you saved him.■ a voice told her. Max stood up ignoring the man, she walked passes him and down the steps onto the dirt below. ⌠Max┘■

⌠No! I didn▓t save anyone alright!■ she rounded on the man. ⌠It was my fault that he was on the ship and got mixed up with Jones. Then it was my fault that I was too much of a git looking for Jack and┘it should have been me that got killed there! If he┘he just┘jumped┘he died right in front of me. It was my fault!■

Max turned and sat down again, her face wet with tears, ⌠Then they are right, I did almost kill you! I didn▓t even realize┘at the time┘I could have┘■

⌠But you didn▓t because you didn▓t have it in you┘you didn▓t kill anyone!■

⌠No! I didn▓t do it because I wanted to find Jack and doing so would take time by then I could have lost┘■ Max stopped talking for a while. She looked down at her stomach that now pushed out a way when she sat down. ⌠Can you just lead me to my cell?■ she asked Gillette in a small voice.

⌠I managed to convince them to let you stay in your house, where Rozia can watch over you and you would be more comfortable. I▓ll have to escort you there though┘and you▓ll most likely have to stay. If caught doing any lawlessness, you will be put in a cell. Can I trust you to be on your best behavior?■ he tried to make her feel better.

⌠It▓s not wise to trust a pirate┘we might try to kill you┘■ she replied back with a straight face as she walked towards the house she once lived in leaving him there.

⌠Max┘I have to go with you┘if you are seen without an officer, that takes you back to the noose.■

Max snorted, ⌠Yeah┘because I▓ll get away from the entire Navy with no ship of my own or any other means of getting out of here.■ 


	3. Max's Stories About Jack

Max again sat, bored, on the swining bench hanging from her porch in Port Royal. She would see the boy from the hanging almost everyday, heading to the market place for his mother. He would watch her for a while as he passed by, empty handed, then come back with a few groceries.

Max would wave to him, unable to leave her house with the Navy always checking in. He walked back, carrying a very large load of things back. Max had to smile as he struggle to carry it all.

"Can I help you with that, lad?" Max asked him.

"You can leave?" he asked dropping a few things by accident.

Max looked down the road and saw a few Navy men, as usual there. "No," she amswered sadly. "But feel free to leave a few things here while you take the rest back. No body will take it here."

"Not even you?"he asked walking over towards her, hesitantly.

Max laughed, "Don't trust me, eh?" she smiled. "Very wise, never trust a pirate. Even if you are one. I can't reach over there, it you want to keep it there for a while."

"Thanks," he told her as she made a small pile of things.

"No probablem." she answered watching him. "What's your name?"

"Drake. Drake Doldrum," he told her proudly. "You are Max Norrington Sparrow."

Max smiled widely, "At least someone gets it right." She looked him over again, "Did you say Doldrum, like Duade Doldrum?"

"Aye, he's my father!" Drake told her happily. "Did he know you? How do you know him?"

"Yes, I knew him." Max nodded. "When I was a little girl, we used to get into trouble, down at the docks." She smiled. "What's he doing now?"

Drake looked down at his feet, "Mum says he's dead. He never came back from sea. Said it was probablly...pirates." he looked up to Max. Her smile left her face.

"Sorry, I didn't know." she told him.

"It's fine...did you know your name is the same as the last Admiral's!" Drake smiled.

Max laughed and pulled down her hat. "Yes, I did know that. Did you know that this was his house?"

"How did you know all that?"

"You Admiral happens to be my father. That's why our names are the same. I used to live here too."

"I thought you last name was Sparrow!"

"Kind of, I married a Sparrow. Did you know that's the last name of your...Captain. Is that correct? Johnathan?"

"You married Johnathan!" Drake almost screamed.

Max laughed harder than she thought possible. "No! I wouldn't even dream of it!" she laughed again. "I married Jack Sparrow!"

Drake's jaw dropped open. "Jack Sparrow? The Jack Sparrow!?"

"If you want to say it that way," she smiled and shrugged. "Although, he prefers Captain Jack Sparrow."

Drake smiled, "The same Captain Jack Sparrow that was caught, tried and sentenced to hang in the gallows? But he didn't! He fought off twenty soldiers just over there," he pointed to the fort. "Then grabbed twp parrots and flew off the cliff there."

Max listened to the twisted story that no doubt, Jack himself had thought up, and tried not to laugh. "Not the same as I remember it..." Max smiled. For some reason, she thought about telling him the truth, but what was the fun of that? "It was more like one hundred soldiers." That part was partially true, maybe not one hundred all at the same time, but the whole insident called for that many.

"One hundred soldiers!" the boy did shout this time from excitment. "Then he flew off the cliff, like his name!?"

Max snickered, "If you can call it flying."

"Then what happened?" He asked, but the answer was delayed by his name being called from down the road.

"I'll tell you later, you better go before you get into trouble." Max smiled.

"I'll come back tomarrow!" he said before running off with the rest of his things. 


	4. Max's Stories Two

Max found herself walking about the house like she was pacing. She needed to stretch her legs and mind to keep her sanity. Sure, the house was big and she had room to move, but the scenery was the same and had the all-known feeling of emptiness now.

A few moments later, Max sighed loudly and walked out the door, she actually was pacing now, until she sat on the bench again. She could hear the market down the street or around the corner, whereever, selling stuff that she found awefully tempting.

As Drake came by, he informed her that he wouldn't be long, his mother had given him a shorter list today. Max couldn't help but ask if he could pick her up something as well.

"An apple sounds very nice about now, don't you think?" Max asked digging through her pockets. She hadn't bother with the dresses this trip at all, everyone knew her a pirate already, why try to hide it? Although she did have the decency of washing her clother a few times so they didn't smell as bad as they usually did on the ships.

"Can you get me an apple, Drake?" she smiled placing a few coins in his small hand. "A bright green one...and perhaps a banana too?" He took the coins and nodded, "You can get something for yourself as well, if you like."

As he hurried back with the things he had, Max thought of what stories to tell him. Drake handed her the small bag he carried and dug the left over coins out of his pocked and gave those to her as well.

Max handed a few of the coins back to him, "Thank you," she nodded. "Now, what do you want to know about ol' Cap'in Jack, eh?" she asked in a fake pirate accent as she offered him a seat beside her.

"Everything!" Drake answered excitedlt jumped up next to her. "About the Aztec curse, the sea turtles and the caniblas. How he bested the Navy and made it all the way to Singapore. South Asia where he found a girl twice his height and half his age!"

"And how he sacked Nassau Port without even firing a sinlge shot, the mark he left on Lord Beckett, what is so special about the Black Pearl and why it has black sails instead of white...his legendary compass?" she smiled as she finished his requests.

"All the same! Aye, whatever you want to tell first!" 


	5. What Happened Next

"Alright, let's start with one of my favorites, Singapore and South Asia." Max laughed thinking about it. "The ship was actually heading to Singapore but we decided to dock, repair, and reload the ship first. Just in case. That night, the slightly over-drunken captain staggered off into the town and found someone who enjoyed his stories as well, twice his height." Max raised her eyebrow at the boy and smiled.

"Was she really half his age as well?" Drake asked.

"I'm not for sure...but I know from experiance that it is possible..." Max replied with a smirk. "Anyway, that night, the captain came back to the ship looking considerably pale and sober." Max laughed at the memory. "Turns out, that his girl ended up being a eunich!"

"Jack had a hard time that night. Between trying to think of a good reason we couldn't allow anyone else onto the ship without getting beat up by this tall stranger and the teasing the crew gave him...the night wasn't at all as good as he thought it would be. That's why Jack has nearly always asked if someone was a eunich...one of the reasons at least..."

Drake laughed with her although he didn't quiet understand the story. After a while, Max caught on that he didn't understand and decided not to explain the story in any farther detail.

Max smiled again, "Well, we were able to convince Jack's...partner...that we could take no more onto the ship. We were now heading onward to Singapore with no more and no less than the number of men we already had before."

"What happened in Singapore?" he asked quickly.

Max wasn't sure what happened in Singapore, she was with Feng instead of Jack when it happened. All she knew is what she was able to gather, although there was a possibility that it didn't fit together anyway at all.

A widow wench to marry again vanishing, engaged earlier that very night, but no one saw her again. Strangely, Jack let slip a few lost bets, something that corsettes being too tight after all, and not very much liking that part if Singapore anymore.

She often wondered if Jack had let his mouth slip something about a lady's corsette and some how ended up on the other side of that comment, and the drunk man actually proposing to Jack...and that's why she mysteriously vanished.

Max smiled and lied, "Nothing of interest happened there."

"Then what of the canibals?"

"Ah, yes...the canibals. What did happen with the canibals?" Max asked herself. She was not present for the first meeting of the canibals either.

"Well, off somewhere in the Carribean, there is an island that looks unsettled and harmless. Jack's been unfortunate enough to land on it twice. Each time, however, they clamied him to be their god in human form. Although I am not sure why..."

"Because he is the captain!" Drake insisted.

"Perhaps," Max smiled. "Anyway, in order to release their god, they must cook 'em and eat 'em!"

"Gross!" Drake wrinkled his face in disgust.

Max laughed, "Ah, but that's what a canibal does. But do you know how Jack got out of this situation?" Drake shook his head not wanting to inturrupt the story now. "Well, I'll tell you..." she told him shirfting her weight to sit more comfertably.

"Jack was quick to learn the language they spoke, seeing as his mother was at least partly native herself." she added quickly not sure if it was true. She had only seen his mother's shrunken head on their wedding day, their first and only meeting. "What he did, was tole the natives to check on the crew, and they did. The problem was, he was already tied up and ready to cook, and the wood below him was already slowly catching fire."

Drake gasped as he listened intentfully. "Jack ran, still tied to a stick, he couldn't see where he was going! He ran straight for a cliff!"

Drake again gasped and leaned closer to listen, "Did he fall? Did he die?"

Max wrinkled her brow, "Of course he didn't die..." she laughed. "There was a pile of rocks before the cliff dropped off and he hit it with the stock he was tied to and flipped over the cliff and landed on his feet, safely on the otherside."

This part was a full lie, he fell back, and he was not safe on the otherside either, but it made the story sound better, and it was the way that Jack would have told it. 


	6. Baby Jack

Max stopped suddenly and turned around, running into someone. "Lo siento," she said in a deep voice, keeping her face covered by her sombraro.

"No, that was me," the man answered in English. Max froze, her eyes widened, could it be? She looked up enough so that she could see what the man was weaing, but not his face, he couldn't see her face if she didn't look at his. The man was unmistakably a pirate, and not just any pirate, the one she hoped to see.

"Follow me," she told him in English before shuffling off behins a buidling. Max stopped walking when she found that this place was less populated.

Max turned back and watched as the man walked closer, following her at a distance. When he reached the corner of the building, she jumped on him, giving him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm sorry, son." Jack told this person, trying to pry them off. "I'm actually taken...by a girl." As he pushed on the boy's shoulders, his hat fell and Jack found that it was no boy, but his own wife!

Max smiled brightly, her face glowing. "Yes...I know you are...she's a ver lucky girl." she laughed jumped at him again.

This time Jack caught her in his arm. "Oh, I thought I'd never see you again! I thought..." he didn't have time to finish his sentence before his lips met hers, drowning away his voice.

Max pulled back from the kiis, "I'm sorry..." she gave him a quick kiss again. "I'm so sorry...for everything. On the ship..."

It was Jack's turn to inturrupt her with a kiss. As they broke it again and she began to talk again, Jack put a finger to her lips to silence her and pulled her close. "It's alright...everything is fine now..." we just have to get out of here."

"Jack...I'm pregnant...I have kids...we...have kids." she inturrupted quickly. Jack help her at arms length and looked her over strangely.

"Kids?" he asked. "How long have you been here?" he asked her half-jokingly. When he found that she was trying to be serious, he asked. "Plural?"

Max smiled, "Kinda..."

Jack looked down at her stomacha dn for the first time noticed that it was bulging out at him. He now felt the nervosness of actually becoming a father...was he ready? He was still a kid himself looking to never die...and Max...

"Plural..." she inturrupted his thoughts. "As in, we have one," Max put her hand on hr stomach softly. "And...I found another..." she smiled.

Jack looked at her, she eally did look happy and more beautiful than ever. He smiled and stepped closer to her. "May I?" he asked sounding nervous.

Max smiled and nodded, "I don't see why not." She removed her hand from her stomach and grabbed his, softly placingit flat on the side.

Jack stared fixtly on her stomach where his hand rest. He was about to move it but Max put her and a top his and smiled.

"Wait..." she whispered to him, throughly proud. Jack relaxed her hand again and waited for what she wanted to show him. He was about to ask when he felt something hit his hand...from the inside!

Max giggled at Jack's crooked grin as he sort of patted her belly. He looked up to her and smiled widely before kissing her as passionatly sa when they were married.

As he broke the kiss, he asked her, "What do you think it is...boy or girl?" he smiled

"Oh, yeah, I think that it's a boy...but almost everyone else disagrees. I think that if it was a girl, that she wouldn't kick so much and so hard." she added jokingly.

"Oh, I know a few that do...and perhaps it's not kicking...but slapping...they seem to do that a lot." he answered back just a jokingly.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore...not as much anyway." she smiled. "You're a taken man...remember...and a father."

Jack looked at her strangely again, "Do you think that I am ready for this...to be a father I mean?"

Max thought about it for a while, she had even asked the same question about herself. "Together...we will be." 


	7. Random Max and Ramira

Max looked from the door to Ramira and back again. As she sat up the room blurred, faded, and then came back, ⌠You have to go┘get off the ship.■

⌠No, those are Navy members and they are returning mi padre▓s ship to him!■ Ramira protested.

⌠Ramira┘please┘I know where Jack is heading and I will send someone for you. These soldiers and I go way back, just go back to Jack.■ Max stood up and swayed, her head felt light and empty but at the same time filled with water throwing her off balance and weighing her down. ⌠You can walk faster than I can right now and less noticed. Just in case I get caught, walk in front of me, tell Jack I▓ll be fine and do not come after me.■

She wasn▓t sure why she was trusting all this to Ramira, or even if she really wanted to the information to get to him. Why didn▓t she want his help in escaping the noose if it came to that? She was fearful for Jack▓s life as well as anything else she presumed, and they couldn▓t kill her off straight away┘not that she knew of anyway.

⌠You lie! You would never send the Navy towards Jack!■ Ramira pointed out to, proud that she caught it.

⌠Jack can get away as long as he isn▓t in shackles┘I▓ll even┘get you a new ship!■ she promised. ⌠I▓ll send you and your crew on a new ship home┘or I▓ll just send you back on this one┘if he hasn▓t taken it.■

Ramira shook her head, ⌠No!■

Max sighed, ⌠Look,■ she pulled out her sword and pointed it at her throat. ⌠I▓ve tried to be nice..■ there was a loud bang from the other side of the door that made ax▓s head throb louder.

She placed her free hand to her forehead, it felt cool on her feverish skin. Her sword on the other hand slipped a little lower and now was pointing to her mid-section. Her strength seemed to be leaving her arm quickly as she fought to keep hold of the sword, hopefully she wouldn▓t have to use it.

Moments later, the door of the small room swung open revealing many men in red and blue coats. For an instant, Max found herself staring at one of the men in particular.

⌠Funny how we keep meeting up like this.■ he told her with fake muse. Just as Max was going to retort back, her arm went limp, her sword dropped to the ground and she clutched her throbbing temples.

Her vision went black for a moment, the room seemed to spin as her balance was thrown off again and she felt herself beginning to fall. Just as she thought she would hit the floor, she felt arms around her, making sure she went no farther towards the wood they were all standing on. Gillette had caught her out of instinct/.

⌠Search the rest of the ship┘find out who she is┘■ he gave the orders to the crew nodding to Ramira. Who was this girl┘it couldn▓t have been a new crew member┘it just couldn▓t have been. 


	8. Death Comes to All

⌠Barbossa!■ Jack roared finding his way to the deck of the ship where he stood holding Max. ⌠Let her go!■ There was a strange silence where each man glared at the other before Jack repeated, ⌠Let her go┘or face cold steel.■ His sword was already drawn and he was ready to spring into action.

The pirate merely smiled holding Max by the arm and looked into her eyes. If looks could kill, Barbossa was a dead man standing. Shaking his head, having his fill of fun for now, he gave her a shove and she stumbled towards Jack.

As she stood a foot from Jack, she spun around to give Barbossa one last harsh look, but found herself facing the blade of his sword. It seemed to happen in slow motion as she watched the tip of the gleaming steel pierce her skin, driving right through her ribs and out through her back, inches away from Jack▓s own torso.

Max stared down at the blade her hands shaking as she brought them up to the hand but couldn▓t bring herself to touch it. As she stared in disbelief at the hole in her stomach where the blade disappeared, Jack was behind her, doing the same thing. A bloodied blade faced him, protruding from the other side of his wife which he surely knew to be dead. It was a more than fatal wound.

Barbossa could almost smirk at their faces, giving the blade a sickening turn, the sound of flesh being cut seemed to echo across the silent ship. Max whimpered as the blade turned, tears coming to her eyes, blood spilling across her shirt staining it with a dark crimson color.

Jack was shocked, he couldn▓t move, he couldn▓t think, the only thing he could do was watch as the blade backed away from him towards Max again as Barbossa drew it back towards him, wiping the blood off with the tail of his coat.

Max grabbed the place where the sword had been seconds before, she tried not to think of the pain that would soon flood to her again, perhaps it was gone┘she was too far gone. She guessed only a few minutes remained of her life, she would die at sea as her father had feared. James Norrington her father. As Max stumbled back trying to stay upright as long as she could, Jack caught her. With a shaky hand, Max reached up to her neck and pulled at the tiny heart locket that she wore.

With the little strength she had, as Jack lay her back on the deck of the ship, she broke the chain and pressed it to his hand. She couldn▓t find the words to speak but knew that Jack would know what to do┘call him. Surely he would come soon┘but she wanted it to be on her terms, not death▓s.

Jack squeezed the locket in his hand but he didn▓t have to call, he felt a cold hand on his shoulder before he had even found the strength in himself to say anything. He knew that it had to be Norrington., who else would care enough to offer condolences.

James, he knew all too well what Jack was feeling and wished that he could take the pain away, he had gone through the experience of losing his own wife, Max▓s mother due to pirates. He knelt down beside Jack, afraid to touch his daughter for the duty he was cursed to do. Afraid that if he took her hand, he would all too soon have to take her soul. He wanted these last moments of her to be with Jack, he would have time with her on the journey to the other world. Picking up the small child, Rune, he stepped back but stayed in sight for reassurance.

Rune began to cry as eh didn▓t understand why the mood had all of a sudden turned so depressing, why his mother would not take him in her arms and cradle him to sleep. James did his best to calm the child but knew that it was no good┘he was a stranger to this child, his grandson, and he wanted his mother.

Max weakly smiled to Jack as she fought to keep her eyes open, she felt a thin line of blood run out the side of her mouth, the wound but have hit her lung as well. She moved her fingers as she tried to keep the feeling in her hand, the feeling of Jack▓s hand in hers. More tears came to her eyes and ran down her cheek to mix with the spilt blood that she lay in.

Jack brushed a strand of hair from her face close to tears himself. Afraid of death, he tried every possible way to outrun it, but it seemed to meet up with him no matter where he hid. This time, it wasn▓t him that would be going to the other side.

Max moved her lips in an attempt to speak, a faint whisper came out of her mouth along with another stream of blood. Jack leaned closer to her to hear what she said. It was such a faint, weak voice, he closed his eyes and listened with all he had.

▒He▓s just like you┘▓ where the last broken words that Jack Sparrow was able to hear. He wasn▓t entirely sure who she meant but had no chance to ask as he hand fell limp in his and he knew that she was gone. He could only guess that she had meant his son┘but how could he be sure┘was she even aware of what she had said?

With a jagged breath feeling the hand on his shoulder again, Jack reluctantly stood up. His eyes closed for a while trying to take it all in, to hold back the tears. He was a pirate, he didn▓t cry┘but he was also a good man┘and had been defeated by death once again┘this time in a different way. If he could go back he would gladly take it himself but knew there was nothing that he could do now but to continue to live his crazy life.

Jack knew from experience that there was a life beyond death, he only hoped that it was better for her than it had ever been for himself. James pulled his son-in-law into a one armed hug before letting him go. Her had a duty to do, and perhaps it was best to leave Jack to his thoughts., but not on this ship┘not with that man.

Jack took Rune in his own arms, he couldn▓t see what James saw, the light that floated down to the dark sea to await transportation to the other side. The crying child became slightly calmer being in the hands of his father┘but still could not understand why they were leaving his mother behind. Why these strangers were all around him, why they were moving his mother and why she would not answer his cries.

Once on the other ship, James spoke to Jack, breaking the silence by a whisper. ⌠He▓s a great child, Jack. He▓s got the best qualities of his mother┘I can tell┘and of course his father▓s. He▓s more like you that you realize┘in fact, one could say┘▓he▓s just like you.▓■ James tapped the man on the back before returning to the helm of his own ship.

Jack couldn▓t help but to half smile at how he had said the exact words that Max had told him. It let him know that she was in good hands, even if they weren▓t his┘and that she would be seen safely to where she was going. ▒He▓s just like you.▓ he repeated in his mind looking at the child he held in his arms. So he would be. 


	9. Return From the Dead? Little Random

(Max back from the dead! Yeah, I was just in the mood for death┘I know it▓s strange but I get that a lot┘and I couldn▓t resist but to put a line like this in the story┘I can honestly tell you┘that in the real story, there is a promise the Max will die┘but I can▓t assure you that she comes back┘or not┘perhaps she is stuck in Davy Jones▓ locker┘or rather, James Norrington▓s Locker. You▓ll have to find out┘any way: )

Giving Barbossa that darkest look that can ever be mustered from anyone, Max drew her sword and thrust it through his chest, staring into his eyes as he did so. ⌠I hope that death doesn▓t bother you┘because where I am sending you┘there is no hope for return this time.■ she sneered at the blade went deeper into his skin, the hilt of her sword pressing to his shirt.

Her anger was enough to scare even herself, she had just killed a man and she felt nothing but anger┘what was wrong with her? Had death changed her so much, or had she really just turned to hating her own killer enough to want revenge? His blood poured over the hilt of her sword and dripped on her hand.

With a hard shove, she managed to push him over the side of the ship towards the locker that surely existed. As he toppled over the side, she wrenched her arm back, pulling out her sword with such force that the blood that had pooled on her hand and the hilt splattered on anyone standing remotely close to her. Standing on a pour of the both of their blood, she looked over the side of the ship and half whispered, ⌠It▓s to the locker for you.■

Taking a deep breath, she quickly dropped the blood drenched sword and stepped back quickly. So quickly in fact that she nearly tripped over her own feet. She spun around putting her hands on her head, blood or not and closed her eyes tightly. She felt hands grab her wrists and move them to her side as arms wrapped around her.

⌠It▓s alright┘it▓s all over┘■ she heard a comforting crooning voice tell her. She wasn▓t paying enough attention to know who exactly it was. Her mind was jumbled, how was she alive? One moment she had been traveling through the sea, the next she was back on the ship killing a man that had killed her seconds before.

(yes, it makes no sense now but hopefully I will have the rest of it figured out later.) 


End file.
